Team Justice
by Katsala
Summary: AU With the Justice League splintered, Roy Harper must lead a team of new heroes to protect the earth. This is their story.
1. Beginnings: Part 1

THIS IS FANFICTION. THINK ABOUT THAT.

* * *

They'd had a fight, the night it happened. When Ollie got the alert from the League, Roy had wanted to come along. Mia, who was usually forced to play mediator, had taken Roy's side. It had ended with slamming doors and a bow being angrily pulled off the weapons rack. That was the last time either had seen Oliver Queen alive.

Dinah was beside herself with grief. She'd been there, along with the rest of the League. Had helplessly watched Green Arrow, along with almost every other member, be slaughtered. Had been the one who'd told them, in the end. Mia hadn't come out of her room until five minutes before they left for the funeral. She hadn't said a word, just climbed into the back of the car, eyes still red from crying. Roy had absolutely no idea what to say to her, and had simply left her alone.

* * *

The sky was gray, covered in dark clouds. The air was hot and still, as if the world was holding its breath. Mia, standing next to him, made a squeaking noise as the coffin was lowered into the ground. She reached over and grabbed his hand. He let her, squeezing her fingers gently in a brotherly gesture. The rest of the speech went on, neither of them really hearing it. Dinah, behind them, was openly crying.

The gravestone read, "_Oliver Queen. A true hero."_

* * *

He called himself the Reaper. The name fit. He'd appeared in Washington D.C., just past midnight; no one knew where he'd come from. No one knew where he'd gone. Aquaman had been the first on the scene.

They still hadn't managed to find Kaulder.

Dinah had explained it over and over again, how the League had been overpowered. How Green Arrow and the others had saved thousands of lives. How neither of them could have done anything, had they been there. No one could've.

It didn't help.

* * *

Dinah had offered to let them stay at her house, but Roy had refused to leave. She'd eventually relented and was now staying at their house. She slept in Oliver's room. They didn't mention it. It was somehow an unspoken rule, not to talk about him anymore.

The night after the funeral, he put the costume on. It was too loose in the shoulders, too long in the legs, making him feel like a child playing dress-up in his father's closet. Minutes later, Mia had snuck into his bedroom, her own suit on and bow in hand. A week later, Roy turned eighteen. Dinah left.

Green Arrow and Speedy came back to life.

* * *

**For those who may not know;. Mia is Mia Dearden, the second Speedy. She is a canon character, not an OC. Since this is an AU, I decided to use her. She's fifteen years old, and, like Roy, was Oliver Queen's ward.**


	2. Beginnings: Part 2

Mary Elizabeth Kane. Known to her friends as Bette. The girl who's life was a dream. A rich, beautiful girl living in Los Angeles. Top of her class at a private school, the team's star tennis player. Popular and charming and effortless.

* * *

The clerk screamed as the men in ski masks fired a shot at the man, a dark-skinned customer, who'd tried to step between them and her. She screamed as he hit the floor.

* * *

But underneath dreams there's always reality. Because Bette remembers. She remembers Gotham, her home when she was only a little girl. She remembers her mother, and she remembers when the police car arrived at their house. She remembers the look on her father's face when they told him his wife was dead.

* * *

The clerk's hands shook as she placed the money into a bag, the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against her forehead. The man they shot lay on the floor, his hand over his shoulder, blood spurting out between his fingers. The others pressed together in the back of the store, shaking.

* * *

Bette was a good daughter. She loves her father. She loves her stepmother. She works hard, follows the rules, doesn't fight. But she's tired of being good, and the world needs heroes, now more than ever.

* * *

The girl's costume is red, with steaks of gold running down the sides. Patterns of flame wrapped around her biceps and thighs. Her long, curly blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, hanging in front of her mask; red leather, cut in the shape of a bird, with golden lenses over her eyes, and she wore knee-high red boots and long red gloves. The bullets the second man fires miss. The clerk threw herself to the ground behind the counter, watching as the girl kicks the guns away from them, taking one out with a well-placed punch. She grabs a can of aerosol sunscreen off a shelf, and, taking a lighter from the counter, aims it at the gunman. And fires.

* * *

The ambulance and the police arrived minutes later, to find the would-be-robbers lying on the ground, the fire out, only one hostage injured, the money in a bag on the floor. They listen incredulously as the clerk describes the flaming bird that saved them. And, on the rooftops of Los Angeles, Bette Kane was flying.


	3. Beginnings: Part 3

"Please. Please, don't go." The younger sister begs.

"Sorry, sis. Mom's not coming back, and I refuse to live in this house with just dad." The older girl says, sneering on the word _dad_. She folds another shirt and puts it into her duffel bag.

"Dad and you and me," the little girl says pleadingly, holding a teddy bear to her chest. "We have to keep this family from falling apart."

The older girl pauses, thinking about it. "Fine. Come with me, then." She heads into the bathroom and grabs her toothbrush from the counter, throwing it into her bag and zipping it closed.

The little girl stands up, looking hopeful. "Really?" Then her face falls. "Dad will come after us."

The girl smirks, pulling a green cap down over her dark hair. "Let him. We'll disappear, like the Cheshire Cat." She grabs the bag, slings it over her shoulder, and walks to the door. "Coming or not?"

She only hesitates for a moment before running after her sister.

* * *

Seven Years Later

The arrow that hits the security camera seems to come from nowhere. A figure holding a bow runs through the darkness, stopping with her back pressed against the door, breathing heavy. She hates Gotham jobs, but the added adrenaline isn't a total drawback.

She presses a lockpicking device against the doorknob. Frankly, the security is awful, and its no wonder crime is so high in Gotham even with that psychopath Batman out there.

The door is open in seconds, and she sweeps in, keeping her bow out at the ready. The guards are in between shifts. She's timed it perfectly.

Another two arrows into the cameras. Another lockpick on the glass case holding the prize. There's a tiny click, and she flips it open and pulls out the brooch.

The stone is topaz, dark orange flickering with yellow steaks. Its set in a heavy, ornate gold frame, with five smaller black gems circling it. She smiles. The perfect match for her.

She closes the case and retrieves the lockpicks, leaving the arrows embedded in the cameras. After all, the Huntress never cleans up her carnage.


	4. Into the Deep: Part 1

The first sign of the end of the world was the men in black scuba suits rushing through the streets of Los Angeles, shooting like crazy. Bette flung herself to the ground, listening to the screaming people with a rapidly increasing heartbeat.

_'Okay. Don't panic. Stay calm. Evaluate the situation.'_ She scanned the mass of soldiers, going over armor and weapons. She saw two of the soldiers carrying a giant piece of equipment, black like their suits, about the size of an office printer. Right, then. That seemed important.

Hidden among the legs of a panicked mass of people, she crawled backwards into the clothing store behind her, hoping that no one would notice her completely undignified scramble. Rising to her feet, she bolted into an empty dressing room and unzipped her tennis bag. Pushing aside her racquets and workout clothes, she opened the panel sew into the bottom and pulled out her costume. She changed as quickly as possible, praying that all the chaos outside would obscure the fact that Bette Kane had entered and Flamebird-the name appointed by the newspapers, which she rather liked- had exited. There wasn't time for anything cleaner.

Stuffing her jeans, blouse and tennis shoes into the bag, she rezipped it, tossed it under the bench, and opened the door. She stopped a young woman with a little girl clinging to her leg. On a whim, she grabbed the woman's arm and pushed her in, closing the door behind her.

_'Let's do_ this.'

* * *

Mia was already in the waiting room when her phone rang. She signed, pushing her hair back behind her ear as she fumbled through her purse for it. She flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Get to the nearest zeta tube. Head to Los Angeles. There's an emergency."

"Roy? What's going on? What do you mean 'emergency'?"

The West coast is under attack by Black Manta. Its centralized in LA. I'm here now."

Mia's eyes widened. "Roy, I'm at the dentist's office. They're gonna call me in there in, like, ten minutes. I can't just disappear."

"Damn." Mia heard and arrow whistle on the other side. "There's a TV there, right? Get the news on, its mayhem out here."

Snagging the remote off the coffee table, she started flipping through channels. "Honey, you're not supposed to mess with..." The receptionist trailed off as the news came on and a picture of Venice Beach, covered with men in frog-suits, flashed up front and center on the screen.

An Asian man, who had been flipping through a magazine, grabbed his cell phone and started dialing. "Come on, Jody, pick up the phone. Pick up the phone." He chanted, looking terrified.

"As Los Angeles and other surrounding towns are under attack by Black Manta," the reporter said, sounding tinny and far-away, "the whole world is wondering; where is the Justice League?"


	5. Into the Deep: Part 2

Running along rooftops felt completely different in daylight. Her red and gold costume would have been like a neon sign for the soldiers down on the streets, but they were more focused on what was happening on the ground. In her time as Flamebird- a currently short four weeks- she'd designed herself bird-a-rangs (she really wished she could patent that name), similar in concept to throwing stars. Bette was always good a darts. These had been a bit harder to master, but, she reflected, throwing one at a soldier's gun, it was worth it to see them sink into the metal blaster and fry the thing. It would be so much cooler if they exploded, though. She would look into that.

She was still following the Black Box. From what she'd seen, that was the importance of the invasion. The soldiers didn't seem to be aiming to kill- though there was still a sickening amount of carnage- they were here to create chaos. It was working rather well.

She tossed out another bird-a-rang, which hit a soldier's hands off the trigger before he could shoot a young couple cornered in an alley. He turned around, looked up, took aim...

And then Bette was yanked behind an air conditioning system. She whirled around, startled, as the beam missed. Behind her was a hooded archer in green giving her an irritated look.

"Be careful! One direct hit from those things and you're out." He sounded angry, but in a way that seemed like he was permanent angry instead of it being directed at her.

She blew her hair out of her face and ran over to the other side of the roof. "Dang it. Lost them." She said, trying took catch her breath. "The Black Box, did you see which way it went?"

His eyes, behind his mask, narrowed. "What box?"

"Don't know what it is, but it looked important. I figured my best bet was to go after the important-looking thing."

As she spoke, Green Arrow- the outfit was kind of a giveaway-fired at one of the soldiers. The arrow exploded on impact, covering him with green foam. Then he ran across the rooftop as the soldiers took notice of him. Bette bolted after him, as shot narrowly missing her head.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"Arrow snarked.

"Its a Saturday!" She yelped back.

* * *

The entire dental staff had joined them in the waiting room. Veronica, the receptionist, was comforting the Asian man, who was a complete wreck by now. Mia wasn't far behind him. Roy's communicator had disconnected. Ringing him back was getting her nowhere. Finally, she dialed Dinah's number, tapping her foot impatiently as it rang.

"Speedy?" Mia relaxed fractionally at the sound of Dinah's voice. "Where are you?"

"Dentist's appointment." She answered, trying to seem... not casual, but not like she was talking to Black Canary, either. "Where's Roy? I think his phone went dead."

"He's in Los Angeles." Suddenly, there was a burstingly loud noise on Dinah's end. Mia winced. "Sorry. I'm in Santa Monica. The Manta Troopers are more dense here. They've got so kind of big black device. I haven't a clue what it is, but they've attached it to the aquarium. When you get back in touch with Green Arrow, tell him to call me."

"Be careful." The last thing she heard before hanging up was another Canary Cry.

* * *

Roy stopped behind another air conditioning unit. The girl in red was right behind him, only slightly winded. "Describe the box." He told her, loading another arrow.

"About the size of a printer. Looked like it was made of the same stuff as the soldiers' armor. Only two of them were carrying it, so it couldn't have been that heavy, unless the armor comes with advanced strength." She paused for breath. "I'm Flamebird, by the way."

"So Manta is smuggling in some sort of machine." He mused.

His communicator buzzed. He clicked it. "Talk to me Speedy."

"Thank God you're okay. Dinah mentioned something about a black machine." Mia spoke quietly. "And for shit's sake, answer your phone."

"What machine? Describe it to me." He demanded. Flamebird leaned forward, trying to listen in.

"Didn't get much, just big, black and scary. They've implanted it in the Santa Monica aquarium. Why?"

"Because Canary didn't see the only one." He hung up. "Alright. Whatever those things are, they have something to do with Manta's plan." He turned to Flamebird. "What's the nearest body of water?"

"The ocean."

_"Inland!"_

She paused, calculating. "There's a car wash maybe five minutes from here. Would that count?"

"Good enough. Which way?"

"Come on," she said, leaping onto the next roof.

* * *

Bette had read about Green Arrow in the newspaper, and online. Heck, she even had a t-shirt with his emblem on it-strictly worn as pajamas, of course. She never thought she would actually meet him. There was a certain starstruck element to it, that's for sure, but it was balanced out with all the screaming. It had a rather sobering effect.

She turned on 8th Street and scrambled down the ladder onto the pavement. Green Arrow followed. "We're gonna have to run for it." She said, eyeing the soldiers. They were now lining the people up on the sidewalks, keeping their guns trained on them. GA pulled an arrow out of his quiver. Instead of a point it had a glass cylinder with wires inside it. She was about to ask what it did when he fired. An explosion ripped through the street.

"Go!" He yelled, shoving her forward. She gaped, shocked.

"You blew up 8th Street! You blew up freaking 8th Street!"

"Thanks for noticing! Move!" Bette ran.

That was a no on the exploding bird-a-rangs, then.

* * *

**If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I'd really appreciate reviews. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
